Concussions

[Taelan28]

I did my first ass over head front hand spring today and I was ok. Later an older guy did the same thing and he was dazed and confused. I asked him 15 minutes later in my limited Korean, if his head was ok he shook his head no. It got me thinking though. How prevelant are concussions in skiing? I did 8 consecutive passes on the course two weeks ago and fell 6 times. On the bike ride back home I felt light headed and a little disconnected. Has anyone else experience a concussion skiing or is it an issue in the sport?

[OKSkier]

I've had several OTF just passed the wake the last couple years and was a little dazed from the falls(also broke the top of my tibia off on one). I now wear a helmet. My buddy also wears one. Its great--it solves several issues, eardrum ruptures, concussions, and head through handle.

 

[6balls]

My on water concussions were barefooting.

[smanski]

Had 3 over the years. Short term memory loss for a few hours. All were slalom out the fronts. Haven't had it happen in the past 15 years. Either my head got harder or I learned to ski a little better or maybe some of both. I had 3 or 4 in high school football. Soft head I guess.

[jackski]

Helmets are good, but in motorcycle racing and hockey, an intregal part is a shock absorbing mouth guard.

[thager]

Is that for foot in mouth? I could use that!

[jackski]

@ thager, Mouth - 2 types - hockey usually employs a guard that goes over the upper teeth, bike racing uses one that goes over the lower teeth.

[thager]

@ jackski Sorry, couldn't help myself. I assume you meant shock absorbing?

[Jordan]

Mouth guards are logically thought to reduce concussions, though there is very little evidence to support that.

 

Jackski...99.9% of mouthguards used in hockey go over the upper teeth. There is one model that covers the lower teeth.

 

Though helmets are imminently sensible, and they do protect the exterior of your melon from getting crushed, most concussions are the result of the brain sloshing around in your head and hitting the inside of your skull. Helmets in every sport simply don't have enough cushioning to slow your head down slowly enough at impact to prevent most concussions.

 

If you go out the front at 60 mph, and your head is accelerating faster as it whips towards the water, there is very good likelihood of injury. I am actually amazed at how rare head injuries are in our sport.

[mac]

@taelan...OTFs are obviously a recipe for some serious injuries...if you are falling 6 out of 8 passes, I would recommend posting a video on this site and get some feedback that may help reduce these falls. I believe Schnitz wrote an article a few years back called "Falling is not OK"...a good reminder to check your equipment, ski with proper form/technique and the bottom line, it's not worth hurting yourself for one more buoy.

@horton, may be you can add a link to that article if it's OK...mac

[6balls]

Helmets provide passive cushion, but do not really limit deceleration. My son watched an episode of myth busters tonight where a dummy was dropped with no protection and then wrapped in bubble wrap. The difference in g-force sustained when forcefully decelerated to zero was 13%.

The reason we don't get concussions more often is that we ski on water. I realize it seems pretty hard, but it gives so much more than other mediums that our deceleration is significantly blunted.

[Horton]

a fall is one thing.... a 60 mph face plant into the wakes is another. Slalom falls rarely ring anyone's bell. Trick falls are more violent. If this does not seem right to you.... get some coaching asap

[TylerR]

@horton I do have 1 concussion from the course, but I hit myself in the head with the ski. None from the water.

[Horton]

Did it knock any sense into you?

[TylerR]

It made me the man I am today.

[Horton]

Makes sense. Have you thought about jumping?

[crashman]

I've never rung my bell skiing- I don't wakeboard anymore because of head bonks.

[Jim Neely]

I had a concussion in the course 30 years ago. Hit my face on the water. I couldn't remember the name of anyone in the boat. I wasn't sure about anything for like 4 or 5 hours. Only concussion I ever had and I played a lot of other sports. I think the water was harder back then.

[TylerR]

@horton I'm a really bad jumper...

[ForrestGump]

I've had two. One in early 2001 doing a heelside backroll on a wakeboard(yes, I was a wakeboarder at one time) and stuck the tip on the landing. I only remember based on what people tell me happened over the next few weeks. And the 2nd was when I whopped myself in the head with a 90 inch jump ski while I was learning to run the slalom course on them. The wakeboarding one was bad and was the cause for my retirement from watersports for 5 years.